Motorized cribs, cradles or baby carriers are known in the art as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,529,721, 3,653,080 and 4,141,095. In such devices, a motor is employed to drive a crank or a reciprocating mechanism which is connected to the baby carrier to oscillate it about a horizontal pivot axis. The motion imparted to the carrier is such as achieved, for example, by a crank rotating about a circular path. Such motion yields equal acceleration levels at the opposite ends of the stroke. In devices such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,653,080 and 4,141,095, the baby is held in a partially upright position and is rocked to and fro. With such devices, care must be taken to insure the baby is not accidentally thrown forwardly from the carrier.